Mdina, Malta is a walled, hilltop town on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean, which stood as the capital of Malta until the Medieval period. Mdina is commonly known as the “Silent City,” its a UNESCO site, and Mdina is a hugely popular tourist destination in Malta. More importantly, its also Kings Landing from the first season of Game of Thrones!!!!

I found Mdina to be totally gorgeous and quite reminiscent of small Dubrovnik, Croatia, without the hoards of tourists (makes sense why Mdina and Dubrovnik were the 2 sites of Kings Landing in GoT!). We spent about 3 hours in Mdina, walking around, taking a lot of pictures, buying some Mdina Glass, and having a drink at the Fontanella Tea Garden, a quite famous restaurant in Mdina. For visitors, I recommend spending about 3 – 4 hours here just walking around and seeing the city, less if you are not planning to have a meal. If you have kids, there are some campy activities for kids relating to the Knights of Malta, but we skipped all of these. Since Mdina is really gorgeous, I am just sharing my favorite pictures, with a list of our favorite things to do in Mdina at the end! Also, if you are looking for Instagrammable doors and balconies, Mdina is definitely for you!

If you are visiting Mdina, our favorite things of our trip were:

• Finding Game of Thrones filming locations (search online, there are many posts on this)!
• Mdina Glass Factory (just inside the main gate), they have great stuff! I came home with two gorgeous Mdina glass pitchers.
• Food and views at the Fontanella Tea Garden.
• Simply walking around town.
• Photographing the famous Malta balconies and doors

If you are looking to pair another site with Mdina, the Meridiana Wine Estate is quite close. We did a tasting at Meridiana and it was quite good. Email the winery directly to set up a tasting in advance (no walk-ins). A walk around Mdina followed by a wine tasting at Meridiana would make for a great day!

STEAL OUR TRIP

Mdina: Maltese official website on Mdina.

Transportation: We arrived to Mdina via Bolt service (Maltese version of Uber; ECabs is a similar app) from St. Julian’s. On the way back, our phones did not have good service so we took a taxi, which generally line up outside the main gate. If you drive, there is a parking lot outside of the main gate. Public buses also run to Mdina.

Mdina Glass Factory: Just inside the main gate. The shop will hold your purchases in shop so you don’t have to carry them around the city. Generally open 9:30 – 17:30, later in the summer (until 22:00 in July and August). There are several of these stores around Malta. 

Fontanella Tea Garden: Open daily 10:00 – 23:30. A classic Mdina stop for views, food, drinks, or one of its tasty cakes! Reservations not required. No AC. 

Game of Thrones sites: Google this before visiting; there are several blogs disclosing all of the filming locations in Mdina. There are also some filming locations in the next door town of Rabat.

Meridiana Wine Estate: ATD 4000, Malta. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Use the “Book A Tour” feature on the bottom of their website to inquire about a tour/tasting, which are usually held during the week between 10:00 and 15:00. Our tasting was 12 euro/person for 4 wines and some crackers. I recommend upgrading to their full tray of snacks, which costs a bit more but is enough for lunch.